Radio Recap: Author's Playhouse

Author's Playhouse was a NBC radio program that aired from 1941-1945. It was primarily a half-hour dramatic program which featured adaptations of short stories. What makes it stand out from similar shows is that it didn't adapt from many well-known authors. Sure, there was O. Henry ("Christmas by Injunction"), H. G. Wells ("The Inexperienced Ghost" and "The Country of the Blind") and Robert Browning ("The Pied Piper of Hamelin"), but also a lot of authors seldom heard on radio: Lafcadio Hearn ("The Soul of the Great Bell"); Nelson S. Bond ("Johnny Cartwright's Camera").

One episode I want to draw notice to is "The Kraken," a story by (of all people) L. Ron Hubbard. It's a sea monster story about a submarine crew encountering a massive sea creature. The manner in which the story is told - especially the sequences of the submarine crew communicating to a diver outside the vessel - make for excellent radio. It's very good horror program.

At the other end of the spectrum, I want to note "Reunion" by Julius Fass. It's the story of a man heading to his college reunion who decides to spend his inheritence on the evening in order to impress his classmates. It's a very simple story and warmly told.

Author's Playhouse isn't a typical NBC dramatic program - it feels more like the sort of radio CBS was producing at the time on Columbia Workshop and others; I mean that as a compliment, as NBC didn't really get interested in competing against CBS' dramatic shows until post-World War II. But Author's Playhouse is a fine exception that makes for good listening. Here's a couple of collections from the Internet Archive: here and here.